Melissa Caddick’s husband learns what luxury items from her estate he will take home with him – and what will be sold off to pay her victims
Melissa Caddick’s husband has agreed to take a few thousand dollars worth of luxury goods bought by the dead fraudster as trustees try to recover millions of dollars owed to defrauded investors.
Caddick, a self-described financial advisor, lived a life of luxury thanks to approximately $30 million stolen largely from family and friends through investment scams.
On Monday, lawyers for the trustees of Caddick’s properties told the Federal Court that her husband Anthony Koletti was no longer claiming ownership of a number of items he said he had purchased or been gifted.
“Mr. Koletti has completely denied his various claims,” Swaab partner Michael Hayter said.
The court was told that Melissa Caddick’s husband Anthony Koletti had ‘completely withdrawn’
Under Caddick’s fraudulent scheme, investors believed money had been invested in ASX-listed shares.
The administrators of Jones Partners have agreed to hand over a number of cases worth “a few thousand dollars” to Mr Koletti, saying that would save time and legal costs compared to resolving the dispute in court.
Among the luxury goods that Caddick’s husband will walk away with are a steel Breitling men’s watch and a Canturi ‘cubism collection’ ring made of 18-carat white gold and 9.47-carat sapphires.
His stepson also receives more than $8,500 in cash and the cheaper sneakers from a shoe collection purchased by Caddick.
The higher-valued footwear will be seized and sold by the administrators, along with other properties to be auctioned to reimburse the victims.
Assets sold to date include real estate, jewelry, branded dresses and works of art.
Another $60,000 in Caddick’s retirement accounts will also be split between the defrauded investors.
Her brother Adam Grimley and her former husband Tony Caddick told trustees that although they were listed as co-trustees on those accounts, their signatures on the documents were forgeries.
Koletti with his wife Melissa Caddick, who disappeared shortly after her home was raided by the corporate regulator. Only her foot has ever been found, washed up on a beach on the NSW south coast
On Monday, Judge Brigette Markovic declined to decide where the money in four other bank accounts held on behalf of four individual investors would go.
The judge decided that all investors should be notified because there was some confusion about where the money transferred to the accounts actually came from and who owned the money.
A further hearing on this matter is scheduled for December 4.
Under Caddick’s fraudulent scheme, investors provided her money thinking they were invested in ASX-listed shares using CommSec accounts.
Instead, their investments never existed and the money was used by Caddick to fund her lavish lifestyle.
Days after her home in Sydney’s eastern suburbs was raided by ASIC to expose her suspected Ponzi scheme, Caddick, 49, disappeared in November 2020.
Three months later, her severed foot washed up on a beach on the NSW south coast.
A coroner previously determined her dead in 2023, but could not determine a definitive cause.
A class action by 24 defrauded investors has been launched against several of its accountants hired to perform annual audits of its clients’ self-managed pension funds.
The lawsuit alleges that accountants failed to fulfill their duties and were negligent, engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct, breached their contracts and breached the Corporations Act.